The most famous tweets ever – And we ain’t talking about Ashton Kutcher tweets either

Twitter has had a number of offbeat, annoying, and even useless tweets suck up bandwidth since its inception, but at times there have been some tweets that stand out so far apart from the usual to actually become famous. What makes a tweet famous seems to have little to do with who actually tweeted, and more to do with what was actually said. After sifting through piles of tweets of people updating the world on the status of digesting their meal, begging that someone – anyone – please read something they wrote, and countless tweets that are just flat out indecipherable, the following tweets stand out as the most famous ever – or at least until someone says something brilliant tomorrow.

Ice Ice Baby!

One of the most famous, and surprising tweets ever, came from the Mars Phoenix – yes the actual Mars Phoenix Lander that billions of dollars was invested in along with countless man hours from some of the most brilliant minds at the NASA JPL. The tweet read: “Are you ready to celebrate? Well get ready: We have ICE! Yes, ICE, *WATER ICE* on Mars! Woot! Best day ever!”

James Karl Buck of Berkley, along with his translator, were in Egypt on April 10, 2008, covering government protests. Along with countless others, Buck and his translator were herded in by the authorities, as is the normal operating procedure in Egypt when the government is protested. Before being taken into custody however, Buck managed to tweet a quick one word message – perhaps the most famous one word tweet ever – “Arrested.” Almost immediately, Buck’s friends back at Berkley saw the tweet, got mobilized to free him, and even helped get the university to hire a lawyer to represent Buck, and his translator. For the curious, the less famous follow-up tweet the next day read “Free.”

A tweet that got a lot of attention for being extremely controversial, and even offensive to some people, is one that originated from an account under the name Virgin_Mary. The tweet in question was to Joseph, and read “Jesus Christ I’m preggers 😦 Count me out of the rave 2nite.” Some found the tweet amusing, others hilarious, and still others thought it crossed well beyond good taste. That disagreement among so many people sparked debates on the appropriateness of such tweets, and whether people should be allowed to use the names of deceased historical figures to set up accounts under.

It may not be most people’s idea of romantic, but Max Kiesler tweeted “After 15 years of blissful happiness I would like to ask for your hand in marriage?” Emily Chang, who gave Max those 15 blissful years, tweeted back, “yes, i do!” While no one is absolutely positive, it is thought this was the first genuine marriage proposal – and as important, acceptance – ever tweeted.

The most famous tweet of all-time of course is, and probably always will be, the very first tweet on March 21, 2006 from Jack Dorsey that simply said “just setting up my twttr.” It may be pretty boring, but it was the first one, and knowing that just may win you a prize on a radio call in show one day.

The neat thing about Twitter, is that everyday there is the potential to see something that hasn’t been tweeted before. There is the chance to see something that changes the way you think, although the odds are slim, or that at the very least entertains you. Then again, there is always the chance that you tweet something and become famous – or at least your tweet does.